Favourite flavour
by Funeral Lilies
Summary: Draco has caught a fever and has to stay in bed. His mother thinks that he, at the age of eleven, is able to take care of himself, but Lucius doesn't agree with her. LuciusDraco fluff, a little angsty, OOCness. Oneshot.


**FAVOURITE FLAVOUR**

**Fandom: Harry Potter**

**Pairing: Lucius/Draco **

**Rating: PG**

**Summary: Draco is almost 11 years old and has not yet gone to Hogwarts. He's lying in his bed since he's not feeling very well, and while his mother thinks that Draco can take care of himself, his father can't stand the thought of his little son being alone all day. **

**A/N: Just some Lucius/Draco fluff from Lucius' POV. A little bit of angst too, I'm afraid. All three Malfoys are very OOC... Also, the plot is extremely stupid. **

Draco was still sleeping, his arms wrapped around a small, grey teddy bear with red eyes, pointed ears, fangs and a torn bow made of black lace tied around its neck. Lucius smiled. The bear was called Shadow, and Lucius would know, because he was the one who had bought it for Draco many years ago, and he was the only one who had been present when Draco had decided what to call it. Then, he had believed that Draco would forget all about Shadow before his ninth birthday – children did, after all, grow tired of all their toys at a certain age – but Draco still wasn't able to sleep unless Shadow was next to him, and somehow, Lucius was very happy about that. Narcissa, of course, thought that Draco was simply being childish, and that the best thing would be to throw the stupid bear away to make him realise that he was a big boy now – but Lucius always scowled at her when she dared to suggest this. Draco would grow up soon enough, and Lucius dreaded the day when his son wouldn't need his protection anymore. Of course, Draco couldn't bring a teddy bear with him to Hogwarts – Lucius knew what kids could be like, and he didn't want anyone to make fun of his precious son. Draco wouldn't be able to handle that, he was too delicate, and even if he would have his friends with him all the time, someone might still try to be mean to him and... Lucius didn't finish the thought, since those worries always made him feel that he was doing the wrong thing, sending Draco away. But there were no options. Draco had to go to school, and Lucius was forced to let him go.

"Daddy?" Draco had opened his eyes, and was now peering at Lucius, who stood by the bed watching him. "Daddy, I had a dream about you." Lucius sat down at the bedside, his hand reaching out to touch Draco's hair, stroking it softly.

"Now, did you really?" Draco smiled sweetly at his father.

"Yeah! In my dream, you were an angel."

"An angel?" Lucius hoped that Draco didn't see the glimpse of bitterness in his eyes, as he was once again reminded of how innocent his son was, how little he knew about reality. Draco had, of course, heard the name 'Lord Voldemort', and he knew that his father was connected to that person somehow – but Lucius had never told him exactly what the Dark Lord made him do, or why. Once, some years ago, Draco had been with Narcissa on one of her many spending sprees in Diagon Alley, and when they had returned home, Draco had rushed into his father's outstretched arms, crying his eyes out because he had overheard a couple of witches talking to each other, and as Draco and his mother had passed them, one of the witches had said in a hushed voice that that was the wife and son of the man that had killed her brother and tortured his entire family, even the children, into insanity...

"She lied about you, daddy!" Draco had sobbed, face buried into his father's chest, and Lucius had ignored the weary look his wife had given him, taken Draco upstairs to his room and told him that he shouldn't pay attention to people who were telling lies, and that his father loved him and would never ever leave him. Draco had been satisfied with that – but Lucius feared that he would soon, very soon, have to tell his son the truth. Draco _would _get to know all about Voldemort and the Death Eaters at Hogwarts, and Lucius knew that he would have to act before someone managed to take his son away from him.

"You were the prettiest angel I've ever seen," Draco said, and Lucius couldn't help but laughing.

"I suppose you've seen many angels, then?" Draco blushed a little.

"No..." Lucius was just about to plant a kiss on his cheek, but stopped himself in time. _Not too often_, he told himself. Narcissa thought he was too affectionate towards the boy already – the stupid woman, he was sure there weren't any feelings at all in her body.

"Draco," he said softly, "how are you feeling today?" Draco had been in his bed for almost twenty-four hours now, feverish and with a terrible pain in his left ear, and there was a bottle of healing potion on his bedside table.

"It still hurts," Draco said, but Lucius knew he wasn't complaining – he was simply telling the truth. Draco was wearing a black pair of pyjamas, and still hugging his little teddy bear, apparently completely unaware of how cute and helpless he looked. Lucius felt as if his heart started to melt rapidly, as soon as he set his eyes on that little boy who belonged only to him.

"Don't worry," he said, his thumb stroking Draco's lower lip as he spoke. "I wish I could make the pain go away right now, but I can't do that. But you're taking the potion, aren't you?" Draco nodded, and Lucius felt, yet again, the urge to cup his tiny face in his hands and kiss him. But he knew that it was dangerous, that he might not be able to control himself, and that Draco would be scared if the kiss became too intense. He was only a child – and Lucius wanted him to stay that way for as long as possible.

"Is there anything you want me to get you?" he asked as soon as he had regained control of himself. Draco looked at him, that wonderful innocent smile playing on his lips again.

"I'd like some chocolate ice-cream, daddy," he said. "The kind that you can get at the ice-cream parlour in Diagon Alley." Lucius frowned. At first, he couldn't remember the ice-cream parlour Draco was talking about at all – then, he got a flashback in which his son was happily licking at an ice-cream cone, and he knew exactly where it was and when they had been there last time.

"I'm off to Diagon Alley, then," he said, and Draco looked at him with sparkling eyes.

"You're the best daddy in the world!" he assured Lucius, who got to his feet, caressed Draco's cheek hastily and then left, closing the door softly behind him. His heart was swelling with pride and joy, as it always did when he had spent some time with his son. He descended the spiral stairs, entering the dining-room to have a quick cup of coffee before Apparating to London. Narcissa was there, sitting by the table having breakfast. She frowned as she saw him.

"Where have you been? Aren't you seeing Fudge later today – one might think you ought to prepare yourself when you're having appointments with people like him." Lucius took a sip of coffee from the cup that had appeared on the table as soon as he had entered the room – the servants knew how to please their Master, no doubt – and said:

"I'm not seeing Fudge until four o'clock, there's plenty of time. I've been to see Draco – he says his ear still hurts." Narcissa rolled her blue eyes impatiently.

"Well, of course it still hurts, the potion hasn't started working yet! Honestly, that boy is so spoilt by now..." Lucius gave her a threatening look.

"How dare you talk about my son like that? If you could make an effort, at least once, to go to him and show him that you care about him – not that I believe you do." Narcissa's eyes widened.

"You... No, I'm not having this conversation, not again..." She left her seat, looking tired and very irritated, pulling an elegant cloak over her shoulders and grabbing her handbag.

"And you're going...?" She sighed, taking a handful of Floo Powder and stepping into the fireplace.

"Knockturn Alley," she said loudly, and vanished in the green flames. Lucius didn't know why she was going there, and he didn't care. As he put the empty cup down on the table and cast a silent spell that made his cloak come flying into his hands, he just hoped that he wouldn't accidentally bump into her in London while he was buying chocolate ice-cream for Draco.

* * *

He returned only a short while later, now holding a small goblet filled with ice-cream in his right hand. The vendor in Diagon Alley had seemed utterly surprised that a man like him bought ice-cream on a rather cold and early morning, especially when he didn't have a child with him, but Lucius didn't care. Draco had asked for it, after all – and Lucius just couldn't stand refusing to give Draco the things he wanted. He pulled off his travelling cloak and threw it over the table, absent-mindedly, knowing the house-elves would put it where it belonged as soon as he had left the room. Then, he hurried upstairs to Draco's bedchamber.

"Daddy!" Draco said as his father entered the room, closing the door behind him. Lucius smiled at the beautiful little boy, who was lying down, his head resting upon five large pillows. As Lucius went over to the bed, sitting down on the bedside and putting the goblet on the bedside table, Draco stretched out his arms and put them around his father.

"Thank you," he said, and as Lucius hugged him back, he thought about what Narcissa had said earlier. Draco – spoilt? It was ridiculous, and the thought would have made Lucius angry, had he not been with his son at the moment. He let go of Draco, reluctantly, and Draco took the goblet in one hand and started eating, all the time beaming at his father.

"Chocolate is my favourite flavour," he said. "What's yours, daddy?" Lucius frowned, unable to remember that he had ever eaten ice-cream in his entire life. After a while's hard thinking, he said:

"Well... I suppose it's strawberry." Draco nodded, as if the answer satisfied him.

"I like strawberry too," he said. "Why didn't you buy a goblet of strawberry ice-cream for yourself?" Lucius shook his head, smiling.

"I was just thinking about getting what you wanted. It's not important what _I _want, Draco."

"Why not?" Without really knowing what he did, Lucius seized Draco's little teddy bear by its neck and looked at it for a while, wondering why the people who owned the toyshop had marketed it as a teddy bear for little wizards and witches, when it bore no resemblance at all to the actual teddy bears that Muggles loved. Ah, well...

"_Why not_?" Draco was looking at him determinedly, and Lucius put the soft toy away, finally not being able to avoid the question any longer. The answer was, of course, simple; still, there was something in Lucius' mind that told him it wasn't simple at all.

"Because I love you, Draco." His son stopped eating, looking as if Lucius had used a word he didn't understand. Then, he smiled, but this time much more seriously than usual.

"I love you too, daddy," he said. He seemed to have lots of things on his mind, but Lucius noticed that he kept them to himself for the moment. There was nothing strange about that.

Draco took another spoon full of ice-cream, but before it had reached his mouth, he moved his head slightly and a little ice-cream landed on his cheek. Draco lifted his hand to wipe it away – but Lucius grabbed him by the arm, softly, and looked into his eyes.

"I'll take care of it," he said, his lips touching Draco's skin, tongue licking the ice-cream away. He could hear Draco gasp, and somehow, this made him reckless. The tip of his tongue traced the taste of sweet chocolate to Draco's mouth, and he kissed his son full on the lips, put his hands around Draco's face and did what he had thought about so often recently. At last, he remembered who he was and who the little boy in his arms was, and he ended the kiss abruptly, caressing Draco's hair quickly as he did so. Draco looked at him, then down at the goblet still clutched in his hand.

"I didn't know you liked ice-cream that much, daddy." Lucius blushed a little, suddenly realising what he had done. His son was so innocent, so delicate... Kissing him had been absolutely wrong, because Draco was too protected to understand the difference between parental love and... something else, something that Lucius loathed and didn't ever want his son to know about. It was ugly and shameful, and it would destroy the family if he let it. He knew he had stepped way too far over the line, and he hoped that Draco would never tell anyone about it, especially not his mother. Draco himself might not understand that it wasn't suitable for parents to act like Lucius had, but if he told Narcissa, she would know immediately, and she would make sure they got divorced and that Lucius was denied custody of his beloved child. Would it be best to erase the whole incident from Draco's mind with a simple Memory Charm? Lucius thought about it for a moment, then decided that he didn't want to use any kind of magic on his son. No, he would have to trust Draco.

"Everybody likes ice-cream, Draco," he said, hoping Draco couldn't hear that his voice was trembling. Draco nodded, without saying anything. Then, all of a sudden, he flung himself into Lucius' arms. Lucius put his arms around him, wondering what would happen now.

"I can't take Shadow with me to Hogwarts, can I?" Draco said, his voice muffled since he was pressing his face against Lucius' shoulder. Lucius stroke his hair, looking at the red-eyed bear, who was lying on one of the pillows.

"Shadow will be waiting for you here at home," he said, hoping Draco wouldn't start to cry, "as will I."

"Then I'll want to go home all the time," Draco whispered, but his voice wasn't at all sad. Lucius smiled, knowing Draco didn't mind about the kiss, knowing he wouldn't tell anyone about it. Somehow, his little boy had gotten a little older today – but he was still the same wonderful child as always, as he would never cease to be. For a split second, Lucius thought about making this the moment when Draco would hear all about what his father _really _did when he wasn't at home, and all about Voldemort. Then, he quickly changed his mind. The dark story of the Death Eaters would have to wait, wait until another day.

THE END


End file.
